It's Not Right
by Tango Saltat
Summary: *Light Shounen-Ai, X/Zero* [Reloaded Once More] Instead of his life flashing before his eyes, he instead has to deal with his buried feelings about his best friend.


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"It Isn't Right"

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A dark blur sped swiftly towards the right, causing the short grass to ripple slightly in its wake. A young reploid, garbed in slightly cracked, slate blue armor, stood still, breathing heavily as he struggled to keep both his deep green, glowing eyes open. His knees were bent slightly as he slouched forward in effort to relieve his worn out body. The young one's muscles ached as he breathed in heavy, ragged breaths and finally, his left eye closed automatically as it was already damaged by his opponent's slice.

The 17th Unit's commander clenched his teeth tightly as he darted his good eye around his surroundings, scanning for the Maverick reploid that had attacked him. However, with one of his ocular units nonfunctional, coupled with the darkness of the night sky with only the glowing moon as a source of light, this was a difficult task for him. He rested a white gloved hand on his azure arm cannon that had long replaced his right arm while straining his ears from under his depressingly blue helm for any sounds that might give away the Maverick's position.

A sudden ruffling of bushes from his right caused the petite reploid to turn on his heel towards the sound, but he soon found himself facing the Maverick reploid head on as it lashed out at its soon-to-be victim with razor edged fangs. X, in a startled fright, quickly lifted his left arm up towards his chest and bit his lip harshly to stifle a painful cry as he felt the knife-like fangs rip through his azure arm armor and bite into the fragile wires underneath. The smaller reploid instantaneously flung his damaged arm, outstretched, to the left, deflecting the irregular reploid's attack on his vital systems and in turn, caused the damaged limb to separate from its place at his shoulder and into the Irregular's hungry jaws. He raised his intact arm cannon up towards the Maverick's exposed, scaly head and a sharp screech pierced the cool air as the reptilian Maverick's scaled wing and shoulder exploded into pieces of shrapnel from X's 'missed' shot.

Time seemed to slow in the petite reploid's point of view as he found himself watching the broken scales and pieces of the mangled wing and shoulder slowly fall towards the hardened ground. X's mind drifted while he was watching the pieces float downwards with his one good eye and he didn't hear the high-pitched scream emanating from the animalistic machine before him. The air seemed to ripple as the scream threw the sharp pieces of shrapnel towards the vulnerable X with such force that the large scales ripped and tore straight through the blue reploid's already cracked chest armor and out his back. X's one deep green eye went wide in shock as he started to fall backwards just from the force of the shockwave, but before he reached the forest ground, he expertly aimed his trembling arm cannon and let loose a bright, sky blue blast of energy.

***

X lay on his back, sprawled out upon the forest ground with his one good eye partly open towards the night sky. His azure helm had fallen off onto the dirt ground upon impact and it rested a ways from its wearer, tipped onto its side. Bright, glowing sparks illuminated the area slightly as they flew from the uneven holes that were torn through his chest and his left arm was completely ripped to shreds and finally, severed. But, the pain was nothing to the young reploid as his mind drifted again.

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Too late...

The shy, quiet giggle that had distracted X before started up again and he listened to it sadly as it wrung his heart. 

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Why am I feeling this way..? It's not right.

He walked through the maze-like hallways of Maverick Hunter HQ with a blank face. The blue reploid was feeling down for some reason, as if something was wrong. X just shook his head, his short, raven black hair waving slightly with his movements, as he rounded the corner nonchalantly. He stopped involuntarily in mid-step while going around the corner when he heard a soft giggle from down the hallway. Puzzled as to why he did so, he peeked out from the corner with his deep green eyes and his eyes settled on a group of female reploids that were chatting away cheerfully.

X blinked his eyes as he found himself listening in on their conversation. He recognized one of them as Iris with her dark brown hair and armor-like, colorful dress. The other three reploids he didn't know at all. One of the female reploids looked a little flustered and hopped about in a frenzy in front of the blushing Iris.

"I can't believe it! I soooo envy you!"

The other members of the group agreed wholeheartedly, nodding their heads. Iris stood there, a deep crimson color spreading across her cheeks but she was smiling happily. "I can't believe it myself! But, I'm so happy that I could cry."

Another female reploid patted Iris on the back. "Oh Iris, the hottest guy in HQ just asked you to be his girlfriend! If anything, you should be rejoicing!"

"Yeah, you're right! Zero loves me and I love him back!"

"Tell us how it happened! I'm dying to know."

X leaned back against the wall, tilting his head downwards towards the marble floors of Hunter HQ with wide, deep green eyes. He felt like something was crushing against his chest and his heart was pounding rapidly. The emotions of sadness and jealousy crept up upon his heart and he clenched his teeth tightly in anger.

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No.. this isn't right!

X's eye twitched in anger as he thought of that moment. Isn't my life supposed to flash before my eyes? Not this... not this! He was dying, wasn't he? His body was broken, his energy was draining with each passing moment, and there wasn't anyone else with him. He was dying, and he was only thinking of one of the most painful moments in his life.. although he didn't understand why he was so devastated by it.

His fading mind screamed and yelled at him for having such feelings and ever since that day, when he had heard Iris in the hallway, he had denied that such emotions existed within himself.

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I'm not... I'm not like that.

X had tried to push those feelings of jealousy and sadness away by trying his best to forget. He lived on, day by day normally as if nothing had happened.

***

"Yo, X!" called a familiar voice. "Hey, wait up!"

The blue reploid slowly turned his head towards his best friend and ally with a smile. "Zero, what is it? You look pretty proud of yourself."

"Mmm hm.. we've been going on for a year now. It's actually our anniversary today," replied Zero as he strutted along with X.

"Already?" asked X quietly, as he knew whom the red hunter was talking about.

"Yup! And it feels great.. but...."

"But what?"

"I need some help picking out a gift for her. Care to join me on my search for the perfect present, buddy?" He smirked coolly at his friend, not noticing the darkening expression on X's face.

"..Sure! Of course," he answered with a strained, cheerful smile.

***

The corners of his lips raised, forming a small smile across his beaten face. He felt a warm tear slide from the corner of his good eye, and he sniffled even though it pained him to do so.

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So, I guess I** am **like that then..

It didn't matter though. He was going to die anyway. No need to think about it anymore. Just drift away and let go. He was tired of fighting anyway; tired of fighting the Mavericks, tired of masking the unwanted emotions, tired of putting up with it all.

He felt the energy leak out of his core, and he could sense his systems shut down one after another. He could no longer feel his legs, then the sparks erupting from his chest suddenly fizzled out. The feeling in his arm slowly dissipated, and his eyes dimmed little by little. The bright green faded, leaving it a dark gray, but his hearing stayed long enough for him to hear a familiar masculine voice in the distance. X cracked a smile.

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Oh well.

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Comments:

To all Zero/X fans: Sorry! One day I found myself realizing that all I've been reading were Zero/X fiction here, and some ended on a pretty good note. Well, not everything goes the way you want in life and the same can be applied to even fictional characters. Don't get me wrong though, I love the pairing and maybe someday I'd want to write one... but probably not for a long time. @_@ Oh, and sorry if the story didn't show up before... seems that FF.net likes to be stupid sometimes.

Comments, reviews, blah blah are more than welcome. Help me write better, please!!


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